The tennis champion and actor-director built their wedding around family, privacy and two meaningful celebrations in Italy and Florida. Their first joint interview offers a rare look at how they see marriage after a fast-moving romance.
Venus Williams and Andrea Preti are newlyweds, and the couple is offering a rare account of what their life after marriage is like. In a joint interview with The Knot, Williams and Preti describe a relationship shaped by privacy, family and two wedding celebrations—one in Italy and one in Palm Beach, Florida.
Their story matters because Williams, the tennis great and entrepreneur, has kept much of her personal life out of public view. Rather than presenting marriage as a celebrity spectacle, she and Preti, an actor-director, focus on the quieter moments: a marriage license, a family connection and the feeling of beginning a shared future.
Two weddings, one shared commitment
Williams and Preti quietly exchanged vows in Ischia, Italy, in September 2025, according to The Knot. The Italian ceremony took place in Preti’s home country and honored his family while also returning the couple to the place where their relationship began to take shape.
They later held a six-day celebration in Palm Beach, Williams’s longtime home. The two events were not presented as competing versions of the same day. Instead, they reflected the two places and families that matter most to the couple.
That choice gives their newlywed period a distinctly bicultural character. Italy was personal to Preti; Palm Beach carries decades of history for Williams, who moved to Florida with her family as a young athlete and has remained closely connected to the area.
For a public figure whose career has unfolded in stadiums and on television, the emphasis on a low-profile legal ceremony is notable. The couple appears to have drawn a clear line between celebrating their marriage and putting every part of it on display.
The City Hall moment stayed private
Williams identified signing their marriage license at West Palm Beach City Hall as her favorite moment from the Florida wedding. She said the couple arranged an early-morning visit, beginning hair and makeup at 3:30 a.m. so they could arrive at City Hall around 6 a.m. for photos.
The timing had a practical purpose: privacy. Williams said they wanted to capture the occasion without worrying about other people photographing them, a revealing detail for a couple navigating a major milestone while one partner is internationally recognizable.
She also described the setting itself—a modern City Hall, views of the water from the 10th floor and a bench where the pair waited to be called in. Her older sister, Isha Price, was there for the signing.
The modest setting carried more meaning than a red-carpet-ready image might. Williams said she had expected to receive paperwork but had not realized they would actually sign the license there. That surprise turned a bureaucratic step into a memory she treasured.
Preti describes an emotional beginning
For Preti, the license signing represented the arrival of something he had long hoped for: marriage and family. He described the emotions of the day as “fireworks” and spoke openly about crying with joy.
His comments frame newlywed life as a beginning rather than a finish line. The practical act of becoming legally married was, for him, the point at which a hoped-for future became real—the start of what he called their new journey together.
That outlook contrasts with the familiar celebrity-wedding focus on fashion, guest lists and spectacle. Those elements can be part of a celebration, but Williams and Preti’s account centers more heavily on commitment and the people who could share the moment with them.
There is also a bittersweet note in Williams’s recollection. She said she wished Preti’s parents and brother could have attended the City Hall signing, underscoring that the intimate event still held space for the family members who were not there.
A Milan Fashion Week meeting
The couple met at a Gucci party during Milan Fashion Week in 2024. Williams had been in Lake Como with her sisters and decided to attend the event, where Preti approached her.
Preti did not initially realize that Williams was fluent in Italian, according to the interview. Their connection continued after Williams’s sister Lyndrea Price encouraged them to keep talking, and they moved the conversation to WhatsApp.
Williams’s description of their early courtship pointed to a surprisingly simple quality she appreciated: Preti wanted to call her. She contrasted that with the more text-heavy habits common in modern dating and suggested that his directness stood out.
The detail helps explain the tone of their wedding memories. Their account does not portray the relationship as built solely on a flashy meeting or their respective profiles. It emphasizes communication, family encouragement and a courtship that advanced quickly but deliberately.
Why their privacy stands out
Williams has spent decades in the public eye. She rose to become one of tennis’s defining champions, winning 23 Grand Slam titles and five Olympic medals, while also building the design firm V Starr. Her relationship with Preti arrived after a career spent under extraordinary scrutiny.
That history makes the couple’s approach to sharing their marriage especially interesting. They are speaking about their happiness, but selectively: the public gets the meaning behind the ceremonies rather than unrestricted access to every private detail.
Some celebrity couples turn a wedding into a brand launch. Williams and Preti’s account suggests another model—celebrate generously with loved ones, preserve the most personal moments and speak about the experience later on their own terms.
It also leaves understandable unanswered questions. The couple has not laid out a public roadmap for their day-to-day routines, future plans or how they will balance their careers. What they have made clear is the foundation they want to foreground: family, emotional openness and a marriage that belongs first to them.
Newlywed life beyond the ceremony
The key takeaway from Williams and Preti’s first joint print interview is that their newlywed life appears grounded in intention rather than performance. Their two weddings honored both sides of their relationship, while the City Hall signing gave them a private moment to absorb the significance of becoming married.
For Williams, that meant returning to Palm Beach, a place tied to her family and professional rise. For Preti, it meant incorporating Italy and his family’s connection to the couple’s story. Together, those choices turned a whirlwind romance into a marriage with roots in both of their worlds.
As the couple settles into this next chapter, the details they chose to share offer a straightforward picture: the biggest moment was not necessarily the most public one. It was the quiet recognition that their new life had officially begun.
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